


Toy Inside

by arc852



Series: G/t Sanders Sides OneShots [15]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: AU, Being Trapped, Borrowers - Freeform, Cereal, Fear, GT, Gen, Giant/Tiny, Infinitesimal!Sides, Panic, Passing Out, toy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 17:04:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17770790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arc852/pseuds/arc852
Summary: Roman finds himself trapped in a cereal box that promises a toy inside. The cereal is then bought.





	Toy Inside

 Roman had been in way over his head.

 He can admit that, especially when he found himself in his current predicament.

 That predicament being stuck in a sealed box of cereal.

 How had it happened? Well, see, Roman hadn’t lived in a human house, like most other borrowers. He lived in a cereal making factory because he had all the food he could eat and tons of space to explore. And despite the number of human’s manning the machines, they were always too busy to be a threat.

 The only thing Roman hadn’t liked about it, was the lack of other borrowers. Because apparently, no other borrower thought it was a good idea. Too dangerous, they had said when he asked. Roman had simply rolled his eyes, at the time.

 Now he was regretting not having listened to them.

 All it had taken was a simple stumble on a rather high railing for him to fall into an open box of cereal. Part of Roman was thankful since if he had fallen anywhere else he would surely be dead. But as the box closed and he was cloaked in darkness, Roman felt a sense of dread well up in him.

 Roman wasn’t sure how long he had been in the box. He was thankful that he had more than enough food and had been mindful enough to bring his water with him. So he didn’t have to worry about starving or dehydration.

 He just had to be worried about the human that bought his box of cereal.

 Slowly, the noises outside went from a deep rumble to the sounds of voices. Many  _loud_  voices. Humans.

 It came from all around him and Roman could only imagine he was now in some sort of grocery store. This became more apparent when his box was moved in a way that had yet to happen before. He was being placed on a shelf.

 After that, it was another waiting game, though he did not have to wait as long. In fact, Roman was pretty sure it was the same day.

 “Oh! This one comes with a toy inside!” A bubbly voice spoke and Roman couldn’t help but flinch as the box was once again moved, tilted up slightly. He grumbled silently as he landed and crushed a few cereal pieces.

 Of course, he would fall into one of the few boxes that advertised having a toy inside.  _Of course_.

 His only saving grace was that though the voice was childlike, the human was by no means a child. Humans were bad, but human children were far worse. Small victories he supposed.

 He felt the box lower into something. “And with that, I think I’m all done!” The voice spoke again and Roman was once again on the move. Roman’s heart beat faster and the dread from before was almost overwhelming as he realized the cereal-and by extension  _himself_ -were about to be bought.

* * *

 Roman felt himself going through the motions of a box of cereal being bought. He heard the beep of the scanner as it scanned the tag, felt himself being placed inside a car, and heard the car startup. Then, they were driving. As they were Roman stopped to think for a moment.

 How was he going to get out of there?

 He had no means to chip away the cardboard and the human was sure to open the box way before he was able to get through anyway. No, he _had_  to think of something else. He had to, or else he would be caught and who knows what the human would do to him.

 His thoughts were interrupted when the car came to a stop, the engine shutting off. Roman wished the car ride could have gone on a little longer as he felt the human gather up the bag but knew that would just delay the inevitable.

 He was placed down and he heard the human start to hum to himself as other noises happened. Roman could only assume the human was putting his groceries away. And then, he felt his box being picked up.

 “Hmm…should I wait for tomorrow or open it and get the toy now?” The human asked himself. Roman’s eyes widened, silently hoping the human would leave it for tomorrow in order to give him more time to think of a plan. But of course, today was just not Roman’s lucky day. “Oh, I can’t wait! I’ll get the toy now!”

 He heard  _and_  felt the top of the box being ripped away and for the first time in what felt like a long time, light hit him. He briefly caught a glance at a freckled face before it was replaced by a hand.

 Okay, Roman had to make a decision  _now_  or else he would be caught.

 As the hand wrapped around his body, he suddenly realized what the human actually thought he was. A  _toy_. And so, Roman made the split second decision to freeze his body as the hand brought him up and into the light.

 He was face to face with a glasses wearing, freckled faced human and it took everything in him not to shake in fear. He didn’t stop breathing, but he kept them shallow, hoping the human wouldn’t be able to pick up on it.

 “Oh, wow!” The human exclaimed and Roman found himself being turned every which way by the human’s hands. “This doll is so realistic…” The human said in awe. A thumb was placed on his chest and Roman prayed that the human wouldn’t be able to feel his rapid heartbeats. The human paused.

 “Huh?” The human’s eyebrows furrowed and he brought Roman up closer, towards his ear. Forgetting that he was supposed to be a doll at the moment, Roman squirmed. He then immediately tensed when he realized what he had done.

 The human froze and slowly lowered Roman until he was in front of him again. “Did you just…move?” Roman stayed still, mentally panicking. He just wanted the human to put him down somewhere so he could escape.

 The human kept his eyes on him and Roman was forced to do the same. The two were seemingly locked in a staring contest.

 And then Roman blinked.

 “I knew it!” The human exclaimed, eyes going wide. “You…you  _are_ real.” Welp, his cover was blown. Nothing he could do about that now, so, he came alive in the human’s hand and started to struggle against the grip with all his might. He nearly felt himself slip out of the human’s hands before the human yelped in surprise and gripped him tighter.

 “Whoa, whoa! It’s okay, little guy, it’s okay!” The human tried, but Roman wasn’t falling for it.

 “Let me go!” Roman shouted. That caused another wide-eyed stare out of the human before he quickly shook himself out of it.

 “R-Right! I am so sorry.” He lowered his hands to the counter below, allowing Roman to get off. Roman immediately jumped to a stand, backing up a few steps as he stared from the human to the area around him. This was an unknown place, he had no idea where any entrances into the walls would be, if there even  _was_  any. He could run, but he wouldn’t get far and there was no way for him to hide, not with the human still watching him.

 He was trapped.

 Except this was a lot worse than being trapped in a cereal box.

 The human bit his lip and slowly knelt down so he was a bit more eye level with Roman. The borrower took a few more steps back. “There, see? You’re okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” Roman wanted to scoff at that. “I’m sorry for grabbing you like that, I didn’t know.”

 Silence fell between them. “Um, my name is Patton by the way! What’s yours?” The human-Patton, tried to ask, but Roman remained silent.

 “…I’m guessing you’re not a toy that happened to come alive, huh?” Roman blinked and found himself shaking his head as an answer. Patton seemed to perk up a little at that. “So…how did you end up in there? Are you okay?”

 Okay, now Roman was confused. Why was the human asking how he was? Where was the continued grabbing and poking? The derogatory terms? The pain? He narrowed his eyes at the human.

 “What game are you playing at?” He asked, causing Patton to take a step back in surprise, now standing up straight.

 “W-What?” The human looked confused, maybe a little sad but Roman wasn’t falling for that.

 “I know how you humans work. You’re trying to gain my trust so you can break me or some crap!” Roman practically growled out. If he was going to be kept or killed he at least didn’t want all this bullcrap before it. It just made it worse.

 Somehow, Patton seemed sadder. “No! I-I’m not trying to do that at all!” Roman scoffed, taking a few steps forward as he pointed an accusatory finger up at Patton.

 “Likely story you foul sorry excuse for a-” He was cut off as a sudden wave of dizziness hit him. He groaned as he stopped and placed his head in his hands.

 “Little guy? Are you okay?” He thought he heard Patton ask, but he was too focused on how dizzy he was feeling to really comprehend anything else. Why did his head suddenly hurt so bad? Wait…When was the last time he slept? Roman tried to think back, but his mind was turning foggy. He doesn’t think he remembers ever falling inside the cereal box though.

 He wasn’t sure how long that was, but it had to have been a while if he was feeling this bad. He fell to his hands and knees, trying to fight back but failing miserably. The last thing he needed was to pass out with a human literally  _right_  there.

 “Kiddo?” A very concerned voice reached his foggy mind, but that was the last thing he was aware of as he collapsed to the ground completely.

 Seems like everything just wanted to go wrong for him today.

* * *

 

 Roman woke up surrounded by a large fluffy blanket. His eyes felt heavy as he opened them and his head still ached, but the overall dizzy feeling was gone. As was the fog. As he looked around, he realized he was in a bedroom…a human bedroom…on top of a human bed.

  _Great._

 “Oh good, you’re awake!” A voice spoke right next to him, causing Roman to jump and look at the offender. Patton stood over him on his right, looking at him with a small smile but concern still in his eyes. Roman didn’t know how he missed him in the first place, maybe his head  _was_  still a bit foggy.

 “Ah, sorry about that,” Patton spoke, voice lower now. “How are you feeling?”

 Roman swallowed the lump in his throat, wondering if he should answer. “…Better.” He ended up saying after a lot of hesitation. He saw Patton’s eyes go wide once again, a grin quickly following.

 “That’s good! I got so worried when I saw you had passed out.” The human let out a quick sigh of relief. This only caused confusion in Roman.

 “Why?” He suddenly asked, throwing Patton off guard a little. He blinked and tilted his head.

 “Why what?” Patton asked back. Roman grit his teeth.

 “ _Why_  are you so worried? Why do you  _care_? You-You’re a  _human_.” Roman couldn’t keep the terror out of his voice at that last bit. He turned away, not noticing as Patton’s eyes went sad.

 “You’re right, I am a human.” Roman flinched and braced himself, thinking the human was about to show his true colors. But Patton just kept talking. “But that doesn’t have  _anything_  do with the fact that I care about you.” Roman blinked, looking up. He was taken aback by the still present sadness in Patton’s eyes.

 “And I know that’s a little weird since we just met and all,” Patton admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “But it’s the truth. Even if you don’t believe me.”

 Roman bit his lip, at a loss of what to do. Patton honestly didn’t…seem  _that_  bad. In fact, as far as humans went, he would say he is the kindest he has seen. He hadn’t been hurt, the human had helped him when he passed out and now he was even claiming to  _care_ about him. And Roman couldn’t hear anything but sincereness in Patton’s voice.

 “I…believe you.” He said, surprising both Patton  _and_  himself.

 “You do?” Patton asked hopefully, eyes lit up. Roman searched those eyes, again, coming up with no signs of malice. So Roman nodded.

 “Yeah, I guess…I mean, if you were going to do something, you would have done it by now, right?” Unless Patton’s whole game was to get Roman to trust him and then betray him, but somehow, Roman just didn’t believe that anymore.

 “Right! All I wanted was to make sure you were okay, kiddo.” Patton smiled softly at Roman, and Roman shifted, fidgeting with the blanket for a moment.

 “Roman.”

 “Huh?”

 “It’s my name,” Roman explained, giving the human a small smile in return. Patton blinked before his confused frown turned into a huge grin.

 “Well, Roman, it’s nice to meet you!” Roman chuckled.

 “It’s nice to meet you as well, Patton.” Roman shifted again, looking around. “So…now what?”

 Patton frowned. “Oh! Uh…Do you have anywhere to go? Anywhere I could drop you off?” Roman thought for a moment. He…didn’t think it would be a good idea to go back to the factory. Though he hated to admit it, the other borrowers were right. It was much too dangerous. But that left the question of where he  _could_ go.

 “I…no, I don’t.” He admitted. Still trying to think of something.

 Patton hummed sadly before his eyes lit up with an idea, but he bit his lip. He was nervous to ask, they had just met after all. And he had a feeling Roman was still scared of him…But Patton also couldn’t just not offer. Especially if Roman had nowhere else to go.

 “You could stay with me,” Patton said. “O-Only if you want to, of course. I’m not going to force you.” He wanted to make that clear.

 Roman’s head snapped up towards the human, eyes wide. “What?” Had he heard the human correctly? “You would just let me…stay with you?” Roman’s eyes narrowed, suddenly suspicious again. “What’s the catch?”

 Patton put his hands up as a form of surrender. “No catch! I’d simply let you stay here, give you your space, provide you with food to eat, things like that. We’d be…roommates.” Patton grinned.

 Roommates…That didn’t sound half bad to Roman. But could he do it? It went against everything he had ever been taught. He’d be breaking every borrower rule in existence.

 …Somehow, though, that just made Roman want to accept the offer even more.

 It would be dangerous and he didn’t trust Patton, not yet, not fully anyway. But maybe, in this case, the pros outweighed the cons.

 Besides, what other borrower could say they were roommates with a  _human_.

 “Okay. I say we give it a try.” Roman said after several moments, causing Patton to look surprised.

 “Really?” Roman nodded and Patton grinned. “Oh, I’m so happy! I promise Roman, I’ll be the best roommate you’ve ever had!” Patton would be the  _first_  roommate he had ever had, but he kept that to himself. He found that he liked seeing the human happy.

 Suddenly, Patton’s hand came towards him and Roman tensed, bracing himself to be picked up. Had he already made a mistake? But…no, Patton’s hand stopped just short of the borrower. His pointer finger held out. When he looked up at Patton’s face, he looked sheepish. “Sorry for the scare but uh…shake on it?”

 Oh, so  _that’s_  what Patton was doing. Roman snorted and shifted forward a little. With slight hesitation, he stuck his arm out and grabbed the tip of Patton’s finger. As they shook hands Roman spared a glance up at Patton once more, noticing the soft but excited smile on his face.

 Roman found himself matching it. He was in for quite the adventure.


End file.
